


Chat On The Beach

by Higuchimon



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! GX
Genre: Diversity Writing Challenge, GX Month 2020, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-06
Updated: 2020-09-06
Packaged: 2021-03-06 19:20:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,734
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26334007
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Higuchimon/pseuds/Higuchimon
Summary: An unexpected encounter with Johan leads Manjoume to questions about first encounters, spirits, and a duel that can’t happen yet.
Comments: 2
Kudos: 11





	Chat On The Beach

**Title:** Chat On The Beach  
 **Characters:** Manjoume, Johan, Ojama Yellow  
 **Chapters:** One|| **Words:** 1,616  
 **Genre:** General|| **Rated:** K  
 **Challenges:** Diversity Writing, GX canon, E3, 1-shot with no dividers; GX Month #6, Bring the THUNDER  
 **Notes:** This takes place after everyone except Juudai returns from Dark World.  
 **Summary:** An unexpected encounter with Johan leads Manjoume to questions about first encounters, spirits, and a duel that can’t happen yet.

* * *

Duel Academia was quiet. Too quiet, in Manjoume’s opinion, and he didn’t like it. The major reason for the quiet was, of course, because Juudai hadn’t turned back up yet from wherever he’d gone after whatever the heck it was he did with Yubel. 

Truth to tell, Manjoume wasn’t at all sure. They’d only managed to get little glimpses of what happened in Dark World from that place of torment Yubel stuffed them into. He’d been surprised that he could even talk to Shou for those few seconds when the other passed by. He’d _tried_ to scream at Juudai but the idiot hadn’t even noticed him. 

Probably Yubel had something to do with that, too. What he did know was that Juudai used Super Fusion. Shou told them all about what happened at the end of the duel. Exactly what that did to them, no one knew. Manjoume wasn’t even sure if he knew what Super Fusion could _do_ or what it was. A Fusion card that no one had ever seen before that strange world… 

For the most part he tried to tell himself that it didn’t matter. Whatever else happened, they’d made it through safely and now they were just waiting for Juudai to get back from wherever he had flittered off too. The sooner the better in Manjoume’s opinion. Maybe then things would liven up a little around here, and Shou would stop drooping around as if nothing else mattered. 

He refused to even consider the notion that he was moping around just as much as Shou was. Even if he had, he would simply have reminded anyone who brought it to his attention that he was Manjoume Thunder and Juudai was his rival. If _anyone_ had the right to be upset about Juudai having vanished, then he was that person, he and no other. 

Manjoume refused to just mope around the Red dorm. He wasn’t going to mope around either of the other two dorms, for that matter. Since it wasn’t class time, he didn’t wander around the main building. He instead vaguely wended his way to the beach, wondering if he might encounter Fubuki or Tenjoin-kun or someone else who might be worth having a chat with. Maybe even a duel – not that there was anyone else here that could give him, the winner of Genex, a real challenge. Not without Juudai there. 

He hadn’t gone too far down the beach before he revised his immediate opinion. There on the beach there sat Johan Andersen, arms wrapped around his knees, staring at the ocean, a mildly distant expression in his eyes. Manjoume slowly sauntered up to him. 

“What are you doing out here?” If he thought about it, he couldn’t remember having actually spoken to Johan ever since the North School duelist arrived there. Johan had always been locked in step with Juudai and too much else happened to Manjoume to even get the chance to. Then the whole duel zombie thing and well – it just hadn’t happened. 

Johan glanced up at him. “Waiting for Juudai to come back.” A hint of a smile tilted his lips upward. “He’s got something of mine.” 

Manjoume furrowed his brow. “Huh?” He vaguely remembered that Yubel possessed Johan for a while. He wasn’t sure of how that ended up, only that clearly he wasn’t possessed anymore. 

“My deck.” Johan let out a bit of a sigh. “I gave it to Juudai so he could fight Yubel and then he left with it. So I’m waiting for him to come back.” 

Manjoume believed that Juudai would return because if he didn’t, Manjoume would have to track him down throughout the worlds and drag him back by his ears, because what was he going to do without his rival? He needed to beat Juudai one day. And here was Johan, simply believing that Juudai would return to give him back his deck. 

He wasn’t sure what to think of that. So he didn’t bother; just mentally shrugging his shoulders and moving onward. 

“Hey, there’s something I wondered about,” Manjoume said, settling down on the beach next to Johan. “You’re from North School, right?” 

“Right.” Johan glanced at him curiously. 

“Then how come I didn’t see you there when I was there back in my first year? That was your first year too, wasn’t it?” That had bothered Manjoume for a while now, at least when he didn’t have anything else to worry about. 

Johan laughed, resting one hand on the back of his head. “Yeah. I heard about you when I got back there. I was sorry to have missed you.” His eyes gleamed gem-like in the afternoon sun. “Maybe you could have been the first person I used the Gem Beasts against.” 

Manjoume blinked several times and delivered a very complex and complicated question that conveyed all of his confusion. “What?” 

“We didn’t see each other because when you showed up there, _I_ wasn’t there. I was off at a tournament – the same one that I won and President Pegasus was there and gave me the Gem Beasts.” His eyes glimmered in soft memory and a deep heartache that Manjoume almost understood. “You know, this is the first time I’ve ever really been separated from them since we met.” 

“I wish I could lose mine sometimes,” Manjoume muttered. He could hear the Ojamas’ voices, chattering about something just beyond the pitch of actually hearing them. He knew they were talking but not what they were talking about. He wasn’t that interested in finding out, either. 

Johan glanced towards him, and his eyes focused on a bit of air above Manjoume. He smiled. “Hello, there.” 

Manjoume sighed and followed his gaze to see the three Ojamas hanging there. Ojama Yellow waved, chirping a hello, and Manjoume started to reach over to grab it, intending to stuff it out of sight. 

But Johan reached out instead, holding his hand out, and Ojama Yellow perched there. He stared up at Johan with large googly eyes. “Hey! You’re not Yubel, are you? Not now?” 

“Not now,” Johan agreed. He regarded Ojama Yellow a little more. “You saw me back then?” 

“Sure did! Shou-aniki and I both did!” Ojama Yellow waved his hands back and forth. “And there were these pretty little fairies!” He let out a long, happy sigh. “I wish I could see them again. I think they liked me.” 

Manjoume rolled his eyes. He doubted that the so-called fairies had even noticed Ojama Yellow existed and if they had, they’d probably had a few things to say about his lack of hygiene. He wondered if he should hit up the hot springs and see if he could introduce the three of them to the concept of soap and hot water. 

Johan smiled. “Maybe they did. And you might see them again if they decide to link themselves to a card. You never know what could happen.” 

Ojama Yellow clasped his hands together and let loose with an even deeper, dreamier sigh. “That would be _amazing_!” 

He floated back up, fading away with his brothers. Manjoume snorted a little. “You really see spirits just like that, don’t you?” 

“Ever since I was a little kid. I scared some people – I didn’t know which were the spirits and which were the humans sometimes. There was one time I got lost and I met a spirit. I don’t remember which one it was, just that she looked like anyone else.” He drummed his fingers on the sand for a few seconds. “Except for the wings. I should have guessed those weren’t normal, but I was six.” 

Manjoume couldn't wrap his head around not realizing wings meant a spirit. But if he’d been six – well – his brothers wouldn’t have been too happy if he’d wandered off like that. 

“She guided me back home. Never saw her again after that.” Johan shrugged. “What about you? When did you start seeing spirits?” 

“After I dueled Juudai a few times.” He wasn’t going to say that it was when he’d first met Ojama Yellow, even though it was true. “I think it rubbed off on me from him.” 

Johan nodded in placid agreement. “He’s got that effect on people. Makes me wonder who else could have it and they just haven’t met their proper partner yet.” 

“No clue.” But the idea did intrigue him. Could Tenjoin-kun see spirits now? What about Shou? Or – well – anyone that Juudai dueled more than once. How many times did it take? 

Damn it, Juudai needed to get back here so he could find out. It wasn’t _fair_ that this question cropped up just when he couldn’t shake an answer out of Juudai. 

Johan leaned back on the sand and stared up at the afternoon sky. “He’ll be back. He and Yubel are working things out.” 

Manjoume opened his mouth to ask about that, then closed it again. He really didn’t know what he would ask or what kind of answer that he’d get. Johan had been possessed by Yubel for a long time. Did he know things? Suspect things? 

_I don’t want to know,_ he decided. _Besides, he probably wouldn’t tell me. That’s Juudai’s stuff to talk about._

He wriggled his fingers in the sand. “So, when Juudai gets back here with your deck, you wanna duel?” He remembered hearing that Johan and Hell Kaiser dueled to get them out of that sand dimension. No one had managed to record it, but clearly it had been beyond fantastic. He wanted to fight against either one of them and Johan was right there. 

Johan’s eyes met him, the sparkle of challenge gleaming in the sunlight. “I can hardly wait.” 

* * *

**The End**

**Notes:** This is my absolute headcanon for why Johan and Manjoume didn’t know each other – and they didn’t, because Johan had to ask who he was when Manjoume dueled Amon. He didn’t even know about the Ojamas. So, they clearly never met before then.


End file.
